10 WAYS TO FINISH STRONG IN 2017

I can't believe it is December already! How was your 2017? As we are approaching the end of the year it's the perfect time to make small changes to finish strong and set yourself up for success in 2018. A lot of people get lost in the craziness of the holidays and decide they will focus on their goals in January, but you can get ahead of the curve by planning for success in 2018 right now.

10 WAYS TO FINISH STRONG IN 2017

1. end of year reflections

Before you even think about making New Year Resolutions for 2018 it's a good idea to take some time to reflect back on 2017. How did it go? What did you accomplish? What went wrong? Where there any missed opportunities? What did you learn? What can you improve? If you spend some time thinking of where you've been, it helps you better set clear concise goals for 2018. It helps to write it down on paper, maybe write a blog post or type it up in a Word document on your computer. Get it out of your head for the biggest impact. I made a PDF worksheet you can download to get you started. 

2. one goal for December

Set one goal for December. Just one. Something you can accomplish by the end of the month. Something achievable. Don't attempt to get too aggressive with your goals (like lose 25 pounds!) or make too many changes at once or you'll risk getting overwhelmed. What is one thing you can accomplish in December that will set you up for success in 2018? Set a goal and make it your focus for December.

3. develop a new daily healthy habit

Whatever goal you choose for December, choose a daily healthy habit that will help you achieve it. If your goal is fat loss maybe you begin a daily walking habit. Start with 5 minutes a day. If your goal is to build a consistent running schedule, maybe you join the Runner's World winter run streak and run at least one mile every day. If you goal is to get stronger, then maybe spend 15 minutes every day on strength training exercises.

Here are some ideas for daily healthy habits that can have a big impact on your health and wellness: Develop a sleep ritual to get 7-8 hours of sleep each night, eat slowly at meals, drink more water, eat more protein or eat more vegetables. Just choose one or two for the whole month and really focus on making your new habit a part of your daily life. Healthy habits + consistency = healthy lifestyle.

4. gratitude journal

Before you go to bed at night take a few minutes to write down 5-10 things you are grateful for that day. Life has its ups and downs but to take a few minutes to reflect on the good and positive (even when things aren't going well) can help lower stress, improve your perspective and can even help you sleep better!

5. be present

When spending time with friends and family focus on your friends and family, not on your Instagram feed. This is something I am currently working on myself. Turn your phone off during meals and social occasions. Consider an entire day or weekend without the internet. I have to remind myself that nothing more important is happening on my phone than what is in front of me now. This holiday season give the gift of your presence.

6. spend quality time with a friends and family

Call an old friend. Make a lunch date. Invite family over for dinner. In this digital world, be the person who makes the effort to keep real world connections. You can follow your old friend on Facebook but there is nothing like sitting across from her (or running next to her) and getting caught up in person.

7. send cards or notes

Our email boxes are flooded but we don't get much in the mail anymore, so it can be a pleasant surprise to receive handwritten cards or notes. It can be in the form of a holiday card or simply a note card. Write out a few sentences and tell someone how much they mean to you. It costs you just a stamp and can make a huge difference in someone's day/life.

8. practice self-care

What does self-care mean to you? Do at least one thing each week that makes you feel good. Take a bubble bath, give yourself a pedicure, get a massage, spend time with friends, read a book or go for a run. Whatever relaxes you in a healthy positive way. Carve out the time for yourself. It not only makes you feel better, it makes everyone around you feel better too. (When mama's happy, everyone's happy.) It's well worth the time investment in yourself.

9. volunteer or give

Speaking of things that make you feel good, think about ways you can give back, either by giving to your favorite charity or volunteering your time. This time of year, I like to go shopping for Toys for Tots and buy toys for kids who would otherwise not have gifts for Christmas. I have also been considering volunteering at the local dog shelter to run or walk with the dogs. (Ollie will be jealous.) 

One easy way I like to give is to download the Charity Mile app. You can earn money for a charity by walking or running! The app makes a donation to your chosen charity for the miles you run or walk. It's a free app and if you are walking or running regularly anyway, it is a no-brainer.

10. plan ahead for January

Now is the time to plan ahead for January. Once you've reflected on 2017, start making your goals and plans for 2018. Need help? I offer nutrition habits coaching online for people who are ready to make lifestyle and eating habits changes that result in long term fat loss. I have a running coaching program online and personal training in Fort Worth for people who want to get stronger to run their first or fastest race. I can help you break through plateaus to get to the next level. I'd love to help you reach your health and fitness goals for 2018. Not ready for coaching? Sign up to receive updates from the strength and running blog for all the running, strength training and nutrition tips for free!

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Supercharge Your New Year Resolutions with End of Year Reflections

I know. It's not even Christmas yet, and I'm already talking about New Year resolutions. Isn't that the way it is nowadays? We pull out the Christmas decorations the day after Halloween, why not start thinking about the new year right after Thanksgiving? 

I don't mean to rush you into making new year resolutions, in fact, I think that it is silly to wait for a day on the calendar to resolve to improve your life. There is no time like the present! You don't have to wait until January to start chasing your dreams. 

I suggest that you don't even think of about New Year Resolutions until you have spent some time reflecting on the past year. Once you look back and think about what has worked for you and what you can do to improve, you'll be in a better position to make clear and concise goals for the new year.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to get clarity on your goals for the new year. 

1. What did you accomplish this year? Did you set any goals and achieve them? Think about why you were able to accomplish these goals. What actions did you take? What was your mindset along the way? How can you replicate this success for future goals? 

2. What were the highlights of the year? What fun and or exciting things did you do this year? Think about how can replicate or build upon these things in the new year.

3. What disappointed you this year? Was there anything you could have done differently to change the outcome? It's important to be mindful that some things are in your control and some things are out of your control.

4. What changed this year? Did you make any changes in your life? Were they changes you made by choice or changes life threw at you? What was the outcome of those changes? Explore both the good and bad. It's a good time to think about what changes you might want to make for next year. 

5. What were your priorities this year? Did they remain consistent or did your priorities change over the year? What will your priorities be for next year?

6. What did you learn this year? Any life lessons? Any experiences that you grew from? Any mistakes that you learned from? How can you apply that knowledge in the upcoming year?

7. Did you neglect anything this year? Did you have plans or ideas this year that you ignored? Are these things still important to you or have your priorities changed?

8. Did you pick up any new habits this year? Explore both good or bad. What led to new habits? Can you break bad habits or build upon the good ones? 

9. What were your weakness this year? Did they inhibit you? Is your weakness something you need to work on or move away from? 

10. Did you step outside of your comfort zone this year? What did you do that scared you? What was the outcome? How can you use this information to take risks and try new things in the new year? 

Revisiting your successes and failures can be tough. It not only takes time, but it also takes self-awareness. You have to be willing to recognize that there is room for improvement and be ready to put in the work to change if needed. If you take the time to reflect on the past year, you can use what you learned to inform your plans for the new year. You're more likely to meet your new year's goals when you first take the time to review what had worked and hasn't worked for you in the past.

I created a PDF worksheet that you can download, print out and answer the questions. It is helpful to not just think about your answers but to write them out.

Complete the workbook and if you feel comfortable share in the comments what you learned about your goals for the new year! Maybe it can help someone else too.

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Fun Fitness Quiz to Test Your Knowledge

Happy Friday, Friends! This past Wednesday I set up a booth at a local event to promote my personal training and run coaching services. I always try to make it fun and engaging for the participants, even if they are not yet interested becoming clients. It's fun to meet people and make connections. 

For the event I printed out the Wednesday's holiday hustle workout so they could try it at home. I also created 12 fitness multiple choice questions and people rolled the dice and were asked the corresponding question to the number they rolled. If they got it right (and sometimes even if they got it wrong, because I'm nice) they won a small prize. Who doesn't like prizes? 

It was really fun and I thought the quiz could be a unique way for you to interact with this blog. Take the quiz and see how you do! No pressure, just for fun, you don't need to leave your email or anything to get your results. If you don't like my questions or the answers, please don't send me angry emails if you get one wrong. Deal? Hah. Have questions? I'd love to help. 

How did you do? I hope you had a great week and are gearing up for a relaxing weekend. Are you running this weekend? Hitting the gym? Taking a couple of rest days? I am training for the Fort Worth Cowtown half marathon so I have a long run on the books. 

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Plan to Fail in Order to Succeed

How does that saying go? "When you fail to plan you plan to fail." Yeah, I like that one, but I also think that you need to plan to fail in order to succeed. 

We often think about failure as something we want to avoid. Who wants to fail at something? Failure sucks, but failure is a part of the learning and growing process. If you aren't failing, you probably aren't trying to learn, grow or improve in life.

I often run into this with my nutrition clients as they go through the program. A common sentiment is "I didn't do what I was supposed to do last week, I feel like a failure."

It's a great opportunity to remind you that failure is part of the process. Behavior changes are hard. No one decides to eat healthier, to start working out or change bad habits and then immediately changes their whole life. It just doesn't work like that. No one reads one article on the internet, goes to one exercise class or enrolls in one nutrition course and instantly changes all their bad behaviors. Change is hard, it takes time and practice and it is never linear. A lot of times you have to fail a bunch of times before you get it right. 

Trying and failing is part of the process. One of the lessons in the nutrition program is to eat our meals slowly. No one reads the lesson one time and starts eating slower for every meal from there on out. It takes practice. One of my clients said, "I feel terrible, but I was so busy this week, I didn't have time to eat slower! My toddler was throwing mashed potatoes at me while I was trying to eat my dinner. I had to eat it as fast as possible. I didn't do what I was supposed to do, I failed!"

This may feel like failure, but this is real life. Two year olds will always act like two year olds. If you plan to only "do better" when your two year old matures, then you'll never get there. Expect that something will almost always go awry. It's not about doing everything perfectly, but just trying to do the best you can in your current circumstances. 

It's a learning process. It's all about making lifestyle changes that fit into your already busy life. Life is always going to be busy. What can you do today that is slightly better choice than what you did yesterday. How can you improve an inch?

If you ate your meal too fast but afterwards thought about how you ate your meal too fast, I call that a win. It shows your awareness is improving. In the past you weren't even aware you were eating too fast. This is a step in the right direction. Recognizing our behaviors is the first step to changing them.

I know it doesn't seem like much, but the little things add up over time. The most successful people make changes slowly over time. You can try to do everything all at once and beat yourself up when it doesn't work out, or you can make small changes that are sustainable over the long term. You can try and fail and try and fail again. I do. It's all part of the process.

FAILURE IS FEEDBACK

Failure is feedback. When you fail, you have an opportunity to improve. When you don't do what you thought you wanted to do, look at it as a learning experience. Ask yourself, what went wrong? Why didn't this go as planned? What stopped me from doing what I thought I wanted to do? What can I do next time this happens to make a better decision? What's one thing I can focus on in order to do better? 

You could beat yourself over it and feel bad about it, but that's not productive. When things didn't go as planned, you now know what doesn't work. What you can try next time?

It's also taking responsibility for what went wrong. You can blame your kids or your husband or your boss or your coach for what went wrong, but really thinking about how you could have handled the situation better and what you could have done differently is the path to improvement. Life will always have obstacles.

It was life changing for me to realize that healthy living isn't all-or-nothing. I used to think if I wasn't perfect, then what's the point of doing anything? If I messed up and missed a workout, I already failed, I might as well eat the ice-cream. If I brought my healthy lunch to work, but then was tempted to dine out with co-workers instead, then I might as well order pizza for dinner that day too, since I already messed up. When I missed too many workouts, I should just quit the program, I'm already too far behind.

That kind of thinking doesn't move us forward. It teaches us to make good decisions only when everything goes perfectly, instead of teaching us how to make healthier choices inside our messy lives. When you make a choice that doesn't fit your goals, move on and try to make a better choice at the next opportunity. When you miss a workout, maybe can you do 5-10 minutes of bodyweight exercises before bed instead. When you eat an unhealthy lunch, you can make sure you get your lean protein, smart carbs and healthy fats at dinner. Every small healthy decision moves you forward. Every failure is a learning opportunity. 

The people that are the most successful are the people who have failed the most, because they keep trying, moving forward and learning when faced with setbacks. Failure is only truly failure if you give up on your goals all together. 

Set your expectations. Failure is part of the process. Plan to fail in order to succeed.

Have questions? I'd love to help. Want to jump in on my nutrition habits program to learn to how to make healthier choices that fit into your busy life? 

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5 Simple Ways to Get a Jump Start on Your Fat Loss Goals

I write a lot about healthy habits on this blog because habits are the building blocks of a healthy lifestyle. Once you develop healthy habits, you no longer have to rely on willpower or motivation. It's freedom from deprivation. It takes work, but it is worth it. If you need help, guidance or accountability in building healthy habits, I have a few spots open in my online nutrition program.  

If you have fat loss goals, there is no better time to get started than now. You don't have to overhaul your whole life, you can start by incorporating some simple healthy habits to get a jump start on your fat loss goals. The idea behind healthy habits is that they work within your already busy lifestyle. Life is probably never going to get less busy, let's do what we can right now. 

It's autumn and while most people are starting to plan their holiday parties, it's a great time to get a jump start on your fat loss goals. Why not get a head start on those new year resolutions? These are five simple things you can do today that will position you for fat loss as you go into the holidays and the new year. You don't have to wait until January 1st to get started. Once the new year rolls around you'll have already developed the habits that will position you to achieve your fat loss goals.

EAT YOUR VEGGIES

Eat a serving of veggies at every meal and snack. Vegetables are high in nutrients and low in calories. Veggies keep your digestive tract running smoothly and can reduce the risk of heart disease. Choose a wide variety of colorful vegetables to take in the micronutrients that help you feel your best. When you feel your best you're more likely make better choices in other areas of your life. Here's my link to a practical guide to eating more fruits and veggies.

PRIORITIZE PROTEIN

Prioritize a protein source at every meal and snack. Protein helps you feel full at each meal. Protein has a higher thermic effect than carbs and fat which means you burn more calories just to process and digest protein. Your body needs protein to build and maintain lean muscle, which is essential for healthy fat loss. Aim for .7 grams of protein per pound of body weight. If you haven't been keeping track, this is likely more than you've been taking in. It pays off to pay attention. Here's a resource I wrote about eating more protein in your diet.

WALK EVERY SINGLE DAY

Walking is a fantastic way to increase your daily energy expenditure. The great thing about walking is that it is low impact, so you can do it every single day. You don't necessarily have to head out for an hour long walk (although this would be a great idea too). You can add in additional walking into your day by parking farther away from the entrances of building, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, taking five minute walk breaks every hour and always returning the shopping cart to the store (you should do this anyway). It all counts. It may not seem like much, but it all adds up and makes a difference when working towards fat loss. The little things add up to big results, don't discount them. How to make exercise a daily habit.

STRENGTH TRAIN

You'll notice when I talk about losing weight, I always specify fat loss instead of weight loss. Why? Because when you are losing weight, you want to take care that you are losing fat and not muscle. If you lose muscle, you may see a lower number on the scale, but muscle loss is not good. Muscle loss slows your metabolism because muscle requires more energy than fat to maintain. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn during the day. If you lose muscle it's harder to keep the weight off. 

You can combat muscle loss during weight loss by prioritizing protein and strength training. You don't have to hit the gym for an hour a day or train to be a muscle-bound mama (or papa), you can do some simple bodyweight or dumbbell exercises right in your own home to build and maintain lean muscle. Aim for just three 20 minute full-body strength training sessions a week at first. It goes a long way for healthy fat loss. Here's an idea for a quick and effective strength training workout or explore my workout archives more more options.

EAT SLOWLY UNTIL 80% FULL

This may be the simplest but hardest to execute advice for fat loss. It takes a lot of practice to get it right. Eat slowly because it takes time for your body to send the signal to your brain that you're full. If you scarf down your dinner down in three minutes flat, it's easy to overeat. I am as guilty as any.

Eat slowly. Put your fork down between bites. Take a sip of water between bites. Count your chews, can you chew 20 times, 30? (chewing helps with digestion and bloating too). This is harder than it sounds. If you're anything like me, it's a habit to rush through your meal so you can get on with your day.

Savor your food. When you eat slowly you can start to feel fullness signals while you eat (not after once it's already too late). Stop eating before you feel overly full. Listening to your body is the one of the best ways to control calorie intake. If we learn to tune in, our bodies will tell us what it needs. It can be hard. We forget. We rush. We scarf.  Eating slow is a habit worth cultivating. The good news is that we eat several times a day, so we have plenty of opportunities to practice. Here's a post I wrote in more detail about mindful eating. 

Notice I didn't recommend an extreme diet or joining your local boot camp six days a week. It's the small things that are sustainable over time that make the biggest difference when it comes to lifestyle change. Get really good at being consistent. If you spend the rest of the year cultivating these healthy habits, in the new year you'll be 10 steps ahead with a solid foundation.

Have questions? Need guidance or accountability? I'd love to help. I have a few spots open in my online nutrition and habits program. Join us today!

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